On a fine Sunday evening you can easily make out this contrast if you are standing on a conditionally correct puddle of mud. On one side there are eight storied hostels, shining corridors, and branded clothes, while on the other side there are small huts, muddy pathways, and rags. But that day I saw an utterly different contrast, which is not generally seen everywhere; small children, most of them lowly or un-educated, with a will to learn, holding hands with adult college students with a will to nurture the future.
And above all this contrast, there were a couple of things that all of them shared; a beautiful smile on their faces and the warmth of happiness at their hearts.
This is our YATN to promise a brighter future with lesser contrast.
It is a very important point that you have raised here. In order to try to bring them to mainstream, the first step is to make them believe that mainstream is not "ALIEN" and achieving that is possible.
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate manifestation of the breaking of this contrast came today when I received a call from Sikhya school.
Ravinder, Ganesh and Suraj (the small kids from academic block)had been denied admission to Sikhya because they were "age inappropriate", which essentially means that they were three years elder to the cut off for preparatory class i.e. 5 years. They were obviously very sad because of this (as others were going and having fun at Sikhya!).
So guess what they did? - The three of them went to Sikhya by sneeking in the auto arranged for other kids and WENT AND TALKED TO THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAl and said "Humari didi toh humara admission karana chahti hai, aap ko kya problem hai? Mujhe didi ne sare animal ke types sikhye hain......" Ravinder went on to explain the different classes of animals. . .
This confidence impressed the school to admit the three of them as a special case. :-)
OUR KIDS GOT THEMSELVES ADMITTED TO SIKHYA. :-) I think it is something for all of us to be very proud of.